Father Jake wonders if anyone out there is listening to the “smoking gun” revelations of the Downing Street Memo, which reveals that the decision to go to war in Iraq was a foregone conclusion. Well, as pointed out in his comments, bloggers have been listening all along. In fact, I thought one of the whistle-blowing books that came out last year detailed off-the-cuff comments by Bush in the months following 9/11 that Iraq was on his radar. He reportedly stuck his head in a policy wonk’s office around March, 2002 and said “we’re going” in connection with the Iraq “problem.”

In any case, this White House press conference Q&A shows his attitude then – a full year before the invasion. It takes time to plan, after all, even though no time was apparently spent on planning the exit strategy.

A comment at Father Jake’s also noted that we’ve turned a lot of corners in Iraq, yet nothing seems to really improve. I’d say it just means that the Iraq problem is an polygon with an infinite number of corners.

Q Vice President Cheney is on the road now trying to build support for possible action against Iraq. If you don’t get that, down the road you decide you want to take action, would you take action against Iraq unilaterally?

THE PRESIDENT: One of the things I’ve said to our friends is that we will consult, that we will share our views of how to make the world more safe. In regards to Iraq, we’re doing just that. Every world leader that comes to see me, I explain our concerns about a nation which is not conforming to agreements that it made in the past; a nation which has gassed her people in the past; a nation which has weapons of mass destruction and apparently is not afraid to use them.

And so one of the — what the Vice President is doing is he’s reminding people about this danger, and that we need to work in concert to confront this danger. Again, all options are on the table, and — but one thing I will not allow is a nation such as Iraq to threaten our very future by developing weapons of mass destruction. They’ve agreed not to have those weapons; they ought to conform to their agreement, comply with their agreement.

Yes, John.

Q It seems to me — you seem to be saying, yes, you would consult with the allies and others, including in the Mideast, but if you had to, you’d go ahead and take action yourself.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you’re answering the question for me. If I can remember the exact words, I’ll say it exactly the way I said it before. We are going to consult. I am deeply concerned about Iraq. And so should the American people be concerned about Iraq. And so should people who love freedom be concerned about Iraq.

This is a nation run by a man who is willing to kill his own people by using chemical weapons; a man who won’t let inspectors into the country; a man who’s obviously got something to hide. And he is a problem, and we’re going to deal with him. But the first stage is to consult with our allies and friends, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

Everybody here on the front row? John?

Q Mr. President, on the question of Iraq, how does the increased violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians affect what Vice President Cheney is trying to do, and affect the case you’re trying to make with our Arab allies for a regime change, or just unconditional inspections?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I understand that the unrest in the Middle East creates unrest throughout the region, more so now than ever in the past. But we’re concerned about the Middle East, John, because it’s affecting the lives of the Palestinians and our friends, the Israelis. I mean, it’s a terrible period of time, when a lot of people are losing their lives, needlessly losing life. And terrorists are holding a potential peace process hostage.

And so while I understand the linkage, for us the policy stands on its own. The need for us to involved in the Middle East is to help save lives. And we’re going to stay involved in the Middle East, and, at the same time, continue to talk about Iraq and Iran and other nations, and continue to wage a war on terror, which is exactly what we’re doing.

I want to reiterate what I said the other day. Our policy is to deny sanctuary to terrorists anyplace in the world, and we will be very active in doing that.

He was telling us all along that Saddam was “a problem, and we were going to deal with him.” We just weren’t bothering to listen.

Incidentally, it was at Father Jake’s site that I first became aware of MakePovertyHistory.org. It took a while for it to sink in, but last night I had a long talk with an old friend about all of these issues and more. After months of post-electoral numbed disbelief, I’m ready for listening, learning, and maybe a little action again.